Tags:
Journalism of Courage
When the ball gets rolling, will the rath keep rolling? The BJP doesn’t want to hazard a guess. So when L K Advani enters this city atop his Bharat Uday chariot on Wednesday, his rally would have two extra features—giant screens telecasting live the India-Pak cricket match from just across the border.
Tomorrow’s tie will decide who wins the historic, closely contested one-day series, and if anyone wants to see if a chance to meet the DPM in flesh can rival that, it’s certainly not the BJP. Local leaders spent many sleepless nights and tension-filled days over the clash of the country’s two reigning passions—cricket and politics—before coming up with the giant-screen solution.
Advani’s rath is to go through ‘‘crowded’’ city markets before halting at the public park, where he will address the rally at 9 pm.
That would be about the time the fate of the match would be decided in Lahore. The screens, it is hoped, would keep both the crowd and the party workers glued to the ground before Advani comes and till the time he stays.
‘‘We will leave no stone unturned to make the rally a great success. I am personally supervising the arrangements and a decision has been taken to install two big screens at the rally ground,’’ confirms local BJP chief Yash Pal Mahajan.
The workers and supporters attending the public meeting should not be deprived of the match, he adds. Later, once the match is over, the same screens will show close-ups of Advani addressing the rally.
However, to remove any remaining misgivings, the local BJP has another hope: that Advani will be persuaded to hold back his speech too till the end of the match. There’s no word on that as yet.
